Riley v. Riley

We granted the plaintiffs’ application for direct appellate review. Having reviewed the record, we are satisfied that the Mary C. Riley Trust should be reformed, as a matter of Massachusetts law, to conform to the settlor’s intent. By dividing the Family Trust (nonmarital trust within the Mary C. Riley Trust) into two trusts with identical provisions, the trustees can take full advantage of the $1,000,000 exemption from the generation skipping transfer tax. We have allowed this type of division in prior cases where, as here, it has been demonstrated that the trust instrument as written fails…